Huge regional imbalance in EV charging infrastructure exposed

Britain is further behind targets for its charging infrastructure for electric cars and growing disparities in the availability of public appliances make electric vehicle ownership in London extremely attractive, but almost impossible in the north.

Incredibly, there are more charging stations in London’s Westminster than in Birmingham, Liverpool and Greater Manchester combined, according to new data released this week by the Department for Transport.

Highlighting the imbalance in available chargers, of the 10 local authorities with the ‘best’ charging facilities, eight are in the capital, while the worst rated locations are mainly in rural areas, raising concerns that electric cars are not for all Britons .

The latest DfT figures also show that as of October 1, 2022, there were 34,637 public charging points in the UK.

In the period from July to the end of September, an average of 875 devices were installed each month.

It means the UK government is woefully behind on the targets it has set for the end of the decade when it plans to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars and push more motorists into EV ownership.

Ministers have pledged to have 300,000 public charging points installed and operational by 2030.

To meet this ambition, the average number of installations would have to be increased from 875 per month to 3,015. That is a monumental increase of 245 percent.

And there are even bigger concerns expressed by experts about the growing disparity in the number of chargers in different regions.

A BMW i3 electric car is being charged at a public appliance in London’s Westminster, where more devices are available than in the northern powerhouse

Ginny Buckley, founder of electric car website Electrifying.com, described the difference in charging availability in Britain as ‘shocking’.

“The wide disparity in the number of installations in the UK will further widen the disparities in electric car buying in Britain if no action is taken – and soon will,” she said.

“We need the government and local authorities to act and do better for everyone, not just the few who visit and live in London like Westminster.

“If we don’t, we risk leaving large segments of the population behind at a critical juncture, deepening the divide between North and South and creating a two-tier nation.

“If we want to give people confidence to make the switch and reduce charging anxiety, we need to make sure people can trust the public charging network; this means increasing numbers, improving reliability and ensuring fair pricing.’

Ginny Buckley, founder of electric car website Electrifying.com, described the difference in charging availability across regions of the UK as ‘shocking’

Ginny Buckley, founder of electric car website Electrifying.com, described the difference in charging availability in Britain as ‘shocking’

Commenting on the inconsistency in the availability of public charging infrastructure, Kim Royds, director of EVs at British Gas, said: ‘The universal adoption of EVs will only happen if the supporting charging infrastructure is widely available and easily accessible.

“This means that charging points need to be expanded outside cities and in all public areas, including in rural and remote areas.

“Local councils play an important role in providing these facilities and helping to expand the UK’s EV charging infrastructure.

“Our research has found that municipalities plan to double their public charging points, with 16,500 to be installed over the next 12 months – a great step towards an electric future.

“While this is encouraging, we need to see more collaborative investment in public spaces, private buildings and home charging if the EV rollout is to be successful.”

While charger availability is lagging far behind what it should be, skyrocketing prices for using public charging devices are showing signs of stabilization this week.

With the introduction of the government’s energy bill relief scheme for businesses, Osprey Charging has announced it will cut its record high rates from £1 per kWh to 79p from 1 November.

The British company made headlines more than a month ago when it confirmed it would increase the cost of using its public network or appliances by more than 50 percent due to rising wholesale electricity prices.

Rival operator PodPoint also recently confirmed it will end free charging in Tesco car parks starting next month to prevent customers from being left with devices for too long.